Woodbey Claims Fourth Straight Title on Day One of Youth Championships

6/25/2013

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill., - The first day of the USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships started on a high note as Jaiden Woodbey won his fourth straight multi-event title to highlight a day filled with great performances at Southern Illinois University at the Edwardsville campus.

The nation’s top young athletes compete in two year age divisions ranging from 8 and under to 16-17-year-olds. This year’s USA Youth Championships are webcast on www.USATF.tv for free during each day’s competition.

Sixteen national champions were crowned today, some of the top performances included:

Woodbey won the boys 13-14 pentathlon title with 2506 points. The four-time national champion had best performances of the day in the 100m hurdles and shot put. Woodbey tied Dyllan Conway in the high jump for best high jump of the day at 1.55m/5-01, and he went on to record the second-best performances in the long jump and 1500m.

In the 13-14 boys 3,000m race walk Steven Berry dominated from beginning to end, with a time of 17:29.12, almost two minutes ahead of the nearest competitor. The opposite occurred in the women’s 17-18 3,000m race walk, where Fiona Dunleavy finished in 16:24.39, barely outpacing Irene Fletemeyer by 10 seconds to win the national title.

Shayn Jackson battled with Collin Magnusson for much of the boys 15-16 2,000m steeplechase. In the end, it was Jackson who broke the tape first in 6:28.66, a second and a half ahead of Magnusson.

Tuesday’s National Champions:

Claire Graves, 15-16 girls’ 2,000m steeplechase, 7:41.19

Shayn Jackson, 15-16 boys’ 2,000m steeplechase, 6:28.66

Abby Hoover, 17-18 women’s 2,000m steeplechase, 7:26.45

Andrew Gemmaka, 17-18 men’s 2,000m steeplechase, 6:50.28

Emily DeStefano, 13-14 girls’ pentathlon, 2,716 points

Jaiden Woodbey, 13-14 boys’ pentathlon, 2506 points

Priscilla Capuano, 13-14 girls’ 3,000m race walk, 20:12.34

Steven Berry, 13-14 boys’ 3,000m race walk, 17:29.12

Emily Belovich, 15-16 girls’ 3,000m race walk, 17:31.39

Andy Vasquez, 15-16 boys’ 3,000m race walk, 15:13.92

Fiona Dunleavy, 17-18 women’s 3,000m race walk, 16:24.39

Isabel Reutzel, 9-10 girls’ 1500m race walk, 10:46.44

Nikolas Toocheck, 9-10 boys’ 1500m race walk, 9:23.12

Camila Vicens, 11-12 girls’ 1500m race walk, 7:35.39

McKean McConnell, 11-12 boys’ 1500m race walk, 11:05.33

Competition will resume tomorrow, June 26th at 8:00 a.m. Central Time with the decathlon in the 15-16 boys and 17-18 mens’ divisions.

For more information on the USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including live results and webcast information, visit www.usatf.org.